The present invention relates to a manual emergency tool assembly of the typed used for instance by fire persons and rescue squad personnel. More particularly it relates to a manual tool assembly having two operating heads, each of which is designed for different uses, and each of which has a handle. The handles are designed to be telescopic with respect to each other, and may be secured to each other in various moveable and fixed positions.
Forcible entry tools have been provided in the past for use by firepersons and other emergency personnel. One such tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,316xe2x80x94Fried. The tool shown in that patent has been manufactured by the assignee of this invention. Like the present invention, the forcible entry tool set forth in the Fried patent comprised two tools, each of which was provided with a handle. One of the handles is received in a bore in the other in a telescoping arrangement. As shown in the Fried patent, a spring biased latch pin was provided to secure the handles in a fully retracted position with respect to each other. A pair of spring biased latch pins were also provided to secure the handle to the chopping blade in two alternate positions which were at right angles to each other. The forcible entry tool shown in the Fried patent provided for securing the handles to each other only in the fully retracted position. Further, the spring biased latch pins were subject to wear, the spring was subject to fatigue, and operation could be impaired by foreign material entering the bore housing the spring biased latch pin.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an emergency work tool, having an improved arrangement for securing the handles to each other in multiple fixed and variable positions for greater versatility in use. It would be further advantageous that the securing arrangement for securing the handles to each other be more robust than that provided in prior devices, and that the securing arrangement be assembled of components less subject to wear than the securing arrangements of prior devices. Thus, it has been found desirable to improve the forcible entry tool described in the previously mentioned Fried patent to enhance its uses and to improve upon the securing arrangement for connecting the handles of the two tools to each other.
It is an object of this invention to provide an emergency tool assembly comprising two tools, each provided with a handle. The handles are telescopic with respect to each other, and may be secured in various movable and fixed positions with respect to each other. It is a further object of this invention to provide a securing arrangement for securing the handles with respect to each other, which is readily operated by a user of the tool. It is another object of this invention to provide a securing arrangement for securing the handles with respect to each other, which is robust and not readily subject to detrimental wear, which would adversely effect its performance. It is still another object of this invention to provide a securing arrangement for securing the handles with respect to each other, wherein a manual actuating element of the securing arrangement is generally protected from damage during both use and storage of the emergency tool assembly.
An emergency tool assembly in accordance with this invention includes a pair of tools, each of which is provided with a handle. One of the handles is provided with a cylindrical bore which receives a cylindrical handle provided on the other tool. The tool having the handle with a cylindrical bore is provided with a securing arrangement housing at the end of the cylindrical handle opposite the tool head. The securing arrangement housing includes a recessed area in one of its outer faces for receiving a manual operating lever. The manual operating lever is connected to a first rotatable cylindrical locking pin which is received in a bore formed in the securing arrangement housing, which bore is perpendicular to and partially intersects the cylindrical bore for receiving the cylindrical handle of the other tool. The first rotatable cylindrical locking pin is provided with a semicircular notch which may be aligned with the cylindrical bore upon rotation of the pin by the manual operating lever, such that the cylindrical handle may reciprocate or telescope in the cylindrical bore. The cylindrical handle is provided with a semicircular notch which is aligned with the first locking pin when the tool handles are fully retracted with respect to each other. When the handles are fully telescoped, the first locking pin may be rotated, by the manual operating lever, to face the semicircular notch in the first locking pin away from the cylindrical handle, so that a portion of the locking pin is positioned in the semicircular notch in the cylindrical handle, thus locking the two handles to each other in a fully retracted position with respect to each other.
A second fixed locking pin is provided in the securing arrangement housing, on the diametrically opposite side of the cylindrical bore with respect to the first rotatable locking pin, and in a position perpendicular to and partially intersecting the cylindrical bore. A first elongated segmental shaped notch is provided in the cylindrical handle on the diametrically opposite the first semicircular notch. The second fixed locking pin is received in the first elongated segmental shaped notch. When the first locking pin is in the unlocked position, the two handles are free to telescopically or reciprocally move the length of the first elongated segmental shaped notch with respect to each other.
A circumferential semicircular groove is formed in the cylindrical handle at the end of the first elongated segmental shaped notch closest to the free end of the handle. A second elongated segmental shaped notch is formed in the cylindrical handle, between the free end of the cylindrical handle and the circumferential semicircular groove, on the diametrically opposite side of the handle from the first elongated segmental shaped notch. When the second fixed locking pin is positioned in the circumferential semicircular groove, the handles may be rotated 180 degrees with respect to each other, so that the second fixed locking pin can be aligned with the second elongated segmental shaped notch, and the two handles separated from each other.
Additional semicircular notches similar to the first semicircular notch may be formed in the cylindrical handle on the diametrically opposite side of the first elongated segmental shaped notch, intermediate its length, to permit the handles to be locked to each other in various telescoped or retracted positions.